Directory

The Association of Retired Conservationists was organized by a group of retirees from the Wisconsin Conservation Department in the 1960's. By the mid-1970's, the WCD had been combined with the Department of Resource Development to form the Department of Natural Resources, and the retirees group had grown significantly, met monthly for lunch and began inviting speakers to address the group on issues of interest to the members. Today, the organization has more than two hundred members.

website contact: retiredrick@wisarc.org

Obituaries

Gilson, Lydia C.		June 2026
McCutcheon, Gloria L.		June 2026
Frank, Edward "Ed"		May 2026
Larson, Timothy R.		April 2026
Lueshow, Lloyd		March 2026
Rusch, Doris		March 2026
Penning, Michael J.		March 2026
McNelly, James L.		March 2026
Rodenberg, Jerry		February 2026
Libby, Janet		February 2026
Stautz, Floyd F.		February 2026
Abney, Loyal "Dick"		January 2026
Meyer, George		December 2025
Braun, Bruce B.		December 2025

New Member, August 2026

Laurie Larson

I successfully harvested my first deer that year at the Sandhill Wildlife Area “Learn to Hunt Deer” event. I highly recommend this program!

I went on to hunt for several years in spite of raising two wonderful human beings and full-time work as a research veterinarian. Those were busy times!

Now that I have retired from University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, I expect my days will be filled with gardening, kayaking, hiking the Ice Age Trail, and more.

I have been in training for a hike that will cover about 500 miles of a pilgrimage path through rural villages of southern France and Massif Centrale. Wish me “bon courage” and “DON’T break a leg” as I depart in less than a week.

As a life-long learner, I look forward to learning more about protecting natural resources from this illustrious group of conservationists.

That’s much younger me, Laurie Larson, on the left with my deer hunting mentor and late husband Dennis Presser.

FUN FACT!
That’s much younger me, Laurie Larson, on the left with my deer hunting mentor and late husband Dennis Presser.

August Special Guest Speaker Dr. Patrick Jung

Dr. Patrick J. Jung is a professor of history and cultural anthropology at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where he has taught since 2003. He received his doctoral degree in American history from Marquette University in 1997. He has written several books and articles on the Native people of the western Great Lakes, including The Black Hawk War of 1832 (2007), The Battle of Wisconsin Heights: Thunder on the Wisconsin (2011), The Nicolet Corrigenda: New France Revisited (2009), and The Misunderstood Mission of Jean Nicolet: Understanding the 1634 Journey (2018). He is currently researching and writing on the lives of the Ho-Chunk people in pre-settlement Wisconsin. Go Here to See the Video.

New Member, May 2026

Ann Scott came to Wisconsin DNR from the American Geographic Society library at UW- Milwaukee where she was the digital spatial librarian. She was hired by DNR Facilities and Lands in September 2006 to produce multitudes of maps and standardize cartography for master planning in the Property Planning section.

In 2012 the opportunity arose for the Real Estate Land Records Officer (now known as the Land Information Officer) position in which she assumed many responsibilities—Land Records System database and application management, DNR Managed Lands database management, interactive mapping applications including the Public Access Lands map application, and the PAL atlas publication. After many bureaucratic shifts she eventually ended up in DNR IT at Central Office.

Ann retired in March of 2025 and keeps busy through volunteering at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, captaining her team in the DNR golf league, working the polls at election time, gardening, and herding her family through everyday life. She and her husband Gary look forward to more traveling and kayaking/canoeing now that both of them are retired.

West Central Wildlife Management Reunion

Front row sitting, left to right: Eldon McLaury, Don Bates, Tim Andryk, John Dunn, Tom Bahti, John Cole, and David Linderud Back row standing, left to right: Jim Keir, Kim Mello, Jim March, David Gjestson, Jon Bronsdon, Tom Howard, Bill Ishmael, Dick Thiel, Jim Raber, Tom Hauge, John Kubisiak, Doug Fendry, Terry Valen, and Mike Gappa The biannual Black River Falls reunion of wildlife management research retirees took place on April 9,2026. They will meet again in August.

February Special Guest Speaker J. Paul White

The State of White-nose Syndrome and Wind Energy Policy As a mammal ecologist and coordinator of the WDNR Wisconsin Bat Program, J. Paul White oversees critical research and volunteer initiatives aimed at conserving our native bat species. In his presentation, he will provide updates on the state of White-nose Syndrome and wind energy policy, while sharing new insights into bat ecology, natural history, and the innovative projects tracking their survival across the Wisconsin landscape. Paul’s interest in wildlife and the outdoors began while growing up in the small town of Mercer. It was in the Northwoods where he developed an appreciation and passion for Wisconsin’s flora and fauna. While he specializes in bats, he has worked on projects focusing on small mammals, American marten, deer, fish and birds. Go Here to See the Video.

The retired DNR Landscape Architects met recently at David Aslakson's home in Green County. Attached is a photo of us -- standing in the back, from left to right is: Mike Ries, Bill Moorman, Dan Rogers, Jim Treichel; middle row: Pam Schuler and Therese Gripentrog; and Lyle Hannahs and David Aslakson are seated left to right, respectively.